<Murna
Dendrar> - Acquire
the emerald Necklace from the Herb and Alchemy Shop in Thundertree.
It is the party's reward for rescuing her [Complete].

<Daran
Edermath> - Explore Old Owlwell to the NE. Daran indicates that
there is a Watchtower there. The party is to protect any miners there
from any undead or orcs that may be wandering about.

Events
Summary:
Having made their way into Cragmaw Castle the party unexpectedly
splits. Why? Well, you see, the party found themselves in the castle
kitchen with two goblins sleeping in boiling soup (thanks to Mullyn),
many strewn about the floor dead, and two running out of the room in
fear to gather reinforcements. Granted, the wise course of action
would be for our five heroes to gather themselves in a united front
for the impending reinforcements. But, unfortunately, this did not
happen. For reasons unknown, Dain and Mullyn decide it best to
quickly head to the rear entrance of the castle to guard against any
stragglers. Good idea? As we shall see, it was not.

We
now find only three of our heroes, Endelthil, Nulara, and Thorin as
potential defenders against the inevitable swarm of reinforcements.
But the regrettable events do not end there. No they do not. For
further reasons unknown, whilst Nulara and Endelthil create a
makeshift barrier of tables to block the doorway,Thorin decides to
attempt to revive one of the boiling goblins in order to interrogate
him. Maybe our dwarven friend was thinking the little green critter
would alert us to the fact that reinforcements were coming? Some
mysteries will die with their originator – as was the case with
poor Thorin, for he did die; surrounded by a swarm of hobgoblins and
goblins that had suddenly charged through the makeshift baracade. In
his last moments, he looked up in confusion from his efforts to
revive and question the half-boiled goblin, to see a horde of evil
descend upon him – and then he was no more.

Surely,
things could not get any worse for our dwindling party? Oh, but
things did get worse. Enraged, by the death of their fallen comrade,
Nulara and Endelthil unleash a flurry of arrows and punches at nearly
a dozen oncoming goblin-kind. Unfortunately, only moments into the
battle – Nulara falls, and only Endelthil alone remains. Now, even
the ever-confident Endelthil knew he could not last in a battle
versus nine enemies. Blocked in a corner, he killed only the needed
adversaries to make his escape possible. He bolted out of the castle
kitchen and into the hallway pursued by at least three assailants.
Thorin was gone, Nulara was gone, and now - only moments later –
Endelthil, too – was gone. TPK.

Oh,
I suppose I should have mentioned that when I said Endelthil was
“gone”, I only meant that he went invisible as he drank his sole
invisibility potion. Wouldn't you if you had a group of goblins
pursuing you and you were on the precipice of death? What? TPK? No,
not “total party kill”, it means “that's pretty keen.” Keen
of Endelthil to slip away from the visible world, that is. Now that
we have all that business cleared up let's move forward with the
story.

So
much happened after this, so we will move quickly. Endelthil fought
off and killed the enemies in pursuit as he fled from the castle into
the surrounding woods. He looked around for Dain and Mullyn, but
found only signs that they had been chased away by a mob of goblins.
Alone in the woods without hope and without ally, all seemed lost to
Endelthil. But all was not lost, for who came strolling by in his
clanking armor on his own personal errand to check out Cragmaw
Castle? None other than our favorite cleric, Bardu! What fortune!
Surely, the had of providence was indeed with our elven friend!

Endelthil
quickly signals Bardu and brings him up to speed. The duo heal up,
leave the woods and infiltrate the castle once again in an attempt to
locate the bodies of their fallen comrades – and possibly find
Gundren. Once inside they find their friends Thorin and Nulara only
unconscious, but guarded by enemy hobgoblins. The hobgoblins had
spared the fallen heroes for interrogation purposes! But, their
captors would not be afforded the same luxury. For, with all the
vengeance the two could muster, Bardu and Endelthil obliterate the
two guards and revive their senseless comrades. Finally, things were
looking up. Well, for the time being at least. Okay, actually things
started to spiral downwards from here.

As
the four of them ventured further into the castle, they opened a door
only to greeted by the following sight: Iarno, the missing wizard,
standing beside a large bugbear who is holding a knife to an
unconscious Gundren's throat. Oh, and beside the bugbear is his pet
wolf. And did I mention that at that very moment Thorin was stabbed
from behind by a stealthy Drow named Vyerith.

Well,
the details of this wonderful little encounter are a bit hazy, as all
who participated in it, do not like to discuss the horrific and
shameful events that took place that day. Suffice it to say that
“negotiations” to acquire Gundren did not go as intended. Thorin
fell in battle (well, actually he fell before he could swing his axe)
as did Nulara. And poor Endelthil missed the only shot that mattered
– a shot at the bugbear's head. Overwhelmed, the elf surrendered
all the party's money, his bow, and his pride in exchange for the
lives of the now unconscious Thorin and Nulara.

The
four heroes, broken and battered, walk away from the castle knowing
that Gundren will be taken away by Vyerith to the Black Spider who dwells in an inscrutable location. They had failed their friend. All they could do
was silently retreat to the woods and spend a night in somber silence
to recoup.

As
soon as they could, with their wounds healed, but their spirits still
low, our little band of failed rescuers drudged back into the castle
only to find Iarno, Vyerith, and their poor Gundren missing. The only
one to be found was the poor bugbear – or what was left of him –
as he lie on the ground bloodied and lifeless. Evidently, the wizard
and the Drow chose to have their own “negotiations” with the
bugbear who had attempted to sell Gundren to them. Vyerith had simply taken Gundren from the greedy little bugbear by force. Poor bugbear.

With
no leads to the whereabouts of Gundren, the party explores the rest
of the castle. They find (and kill) a giant octopus creature, a
golden elf statuette that can be used as an augur, Sildar's old
armor, and a barred-room that houses an enormous beast. Should the
party enter the beastly room? The golden elf statue of augury tells
of both weal and woe should they enter. With the party having such
luck lately, why not give it a shot? Well, we shall see what happens.
Let us hope that our heroes have learned from their mistakes!

Vyerith,
the Drow in service of the Black Spider has taken Gundren to an
unknown location. That is, if she did not kill Gundren . . .

Iarno,
the Wizard, is again at large.

Thorin
refuses to use Shield of Faith :-)

Endelthil
negotiates almost
as well as Han Solo did in the Death Star control room. “Uh,
we had a slight weapons malfunction, but uh... everything's perfectly
all right now. We're fine. We're all fine here now, thank you. How
are you?”